Friendly Fire

If you’ve watched Alexandria politics this year—not just paid vague attention to the news, but actually binged hours of Council hearing livestreams like they’re the new season of Stranger Things—you may have noticed something unusual happening. Our local electeds have been getting a lot of heat, which in itself is nothing new. What’s interesting is that it’s coming from people who don’t number among the traditional adversaries of Alexandria Democrats, by which we mean Glenn Youngkin, MAGA trolls podcasting from their basements in North Ridge, alt-right conspiracy theorists, Alexandria Times letter writers, and the entire federal government. If you’re a municipal official in this city, that’s who you expect to have beef with. You’re prepared for it. You’ve mentally, and maybe physically, girded your loins against it [Editor’s note: please don’t talk about loins]. 

Yet the strongest pressure on Council these days is actually coming from advocates on the left side of the political spectrum. Protests demanding a Gaza ceasefire resolution have been ongoing since early 2024, followed by more recent activism objecting to the sheriff’s cooperation with ICE—two visible and in some cases extremely audible examples of tension among people who typically hang out on the same side of the aisle. Strange[r] things indeed!!

On the one hand, this dynamic is a little “WTF?” in the sense that all of our elected officials are by any objective measure quite liberal, but at the same time it’s not unexpected at all. This is a city where 80% of voters fall somewhere between “left of center” and “ready to seize the means of production,” and that is simply a huge number of people squashed inside one party’s tent. In a city with this many shades of blue, coalition politics produces bedfellows stranger than Olivia Nuzzi and every male politician over the age of 60. Certain things are not naturally compatible with each other! And by “things” we mean Olivia Nuzzi and Mark Sanford’s loins [Editor’s note: hey! HEY! What did I say about loins!]. It’s no wonder that internal disagreement sometimes erupts in these conditions. 

We imagine that for local leaders, the experience of receiving criticism from the progressive flank can feel awkward and frustrating, like a “why are you yelling at us, we’re on the same team” kind of vibe. That sting is only sharpened by the reality that if they’re getting blasted from the left [Editor’s note: phrasing] they’re not exactly getting any backup from the right. There is no cavalry coming from conservative quarters, no Republicans rising from the southeast quadrant of Old Town to say, “Leave these Democrats alone! They’re doing their best!” If anything, Alexandria feels dangerously like a magnet for conservative reprisals these days. We already know we’re on JD’s radar, and that’s never a good place to be—it’s like being noticed by a hungry raccoon, we do not want that kind of attention. Altogether, these are not easy political straits to navigate.

Our take on all of this is that generally speaking, pressure from within your own camp is healthy and good. Democracy always involves tension. Accountability requires discomfort. And the fact that there are people in our community who are willing to stand up and make trouble on behalf of the most vulnerable is something we can all appreciate. It might even cause a little stirring in the loi– [Editor’s note: I swear to god I will CUT YOU].

However, and this is critical: the way that pressure gets applied is so important. Not all tactics are equally effective, and we’ve seen firsthand that some work better than others. When advocacy is constructive, focused, and tailored to the realities of local government, it succeeds. A clear example is last week’s Council statement to the sheriff regarding ICE cooperation. Community members articulated a specific ask, leaders listened, and the outcome was a statement that reflected the city’s values. It hasn’t yet elicited any change in policy from the sheriff’s office, but it was progress, the kind that happens through dialogue and thoughtful nudging.

On the flip side, when activists opt for insults or personal attacks, it tends not to yield the desired results. Fun fact: elected officials are actual human beings with actual feelings! They do not respond well to being called history’s greatest monsters. When someone shouts at them in public or floods their inbox with threats, the natural response is not “I feel so moved by this person’s moral leadership,” but rather “I need to block this email address.” 

To be clear, this is not us tone-policing or implying that civility is always ethically superior. We believe, wholeheartedly, in many forms of strategic incivility. For example: pointing and laughing at Cybertruck drivers is a sacred civic duty that hurts Elon Musk’s bottom line, and we will never apologize for it. Sometimes rudeness is justice. Sometimes you have to yell into a megaphone outside Chad Wolf’s house or tell the governor to read the room when he shows up at your grocery store. We know that impertinence can be powerful—a sentence that, we realize as we type it, explains so much about our whole deal.

But sometimes incivility is not strategic. This is especially the case when your target is someone who genuinely wants to do good and is not the source of the harm you’re protesting. Advocates who treat such a person as their enemy instead of a potential ally are shooting themselves in the foot (feet?). Alienating someone whose cooperation you need not only makes change less likely on the immediate issue but also down the road. People remember how you made them feel when they’re deciding whether to go out on a limb (limbs? no, definitely just one limb) for you next time.

As Alexandria inevitably faces more moments like this, we think there are a few lessons worth carrying forward. First: activism is core to who we are. We’re a city of outspoken residents; Alexandria wouldn’t be Alexandria without them. We’re better off as a community because our people care enough to show up, even when they show up loudly. People who aren’t afraid to say what’s in their hearts, even if what’s in their hearts is the word “loins.” [Editor’s note: I quit.]

Second: there’s a difference between being outspoken in service of a cause and being performative or abrasive for the sake of theater. Goals matter. Intent matters. So does saving our burn-it-down, salt-the-earth, from-hell’s-heart-I-stab-at-thee rage for the people who are actually the problem. The bad guys are over on the other side of the Potomac, and we should all try to remember that when we’re deciding where to direct our vitriol and bile, which are in no short supply these days. After all, as we’ve observed ourselves time after time, Alexandria works best when we assume good intentions and approach difficult issues as problems we can solve together.

Things You May Have Missed Because You Have a Life 

• We’re going to spare you guys the continued use of our indescribably clever “ARHAot Water” label [Editor’s note: except you just did! It’s right there! We can all read it, right there!] and cover the latest twist in the ARHA saga in the links round-up rather than Local Discourse Rankings, but yeah, this story continues to have more dramatic reveals than a daytime soap—the latest being a $4.5m lawsuit brought by the former CEO against the agency.
• Given that we are Not Actual Journalists™ we’re always excited to see new additions to our local news scene. The latest is The Alexandria Brief, from former ALXnow publisher Ryan Belmore. It’s early days but so far his aim seems to be delivering both substance and volume of coverage of issues happening around the city. Throw him a click and see what you think… and for the record we had this plug written before he went and quoted us at length yesterday on the topic of civic association influence.
• A fox in Rosemont tested positive for rabies, presumably a result of coming into contact with the current HHS Secretary.
• Alexandria recently got two new accolades: one of the South’s most magical holiday towns and one of the country’s top digital cities using tech to improve services for residents. This combination of superlatives makes sense when you consider how many times our neighbors have filed 311 complaints because Santa’s sleigh was blocking their driveway. 
• The Gray Lady came to Potomac Yard, called us a suburb of DC, and profiled a Disney adult with a vindictive streak and an Amelia Bedelia-like fixation on the plain meaning of things. We never ever thought we’d read something that made us feel even the slightest stirrings of pro-HOA sympathy, but damn if this piece didn’t come close.
• Alexandrians can’t get enough of gimmicky road races! This past weekend saw the inaugural running of the Del Ray 0.5K, a charity promotion hosted by Del Ray Pizzeria to raise money for the Mother of Light Center by running across their parking lot. On the other end of the spectrum, next weekend is the Taco Bell DC 50K which starts and ends at the King Street Taco Bell Cantina and features a course that hopscotches across nine Taco Bell locations in DC, Arlington, and Alexandria and involves eating a menu item at each location. We’ve heard that the King Street location has *no* idea this is happening and is likely to be overwhelmed when dozens of 35-year-old hipster white dudes [Editor’s note: before you get mad at us… come on, you know it’s true] descend on them all at once. It’s shaping up to be a real [puts on sunglasses] Fire Sauce Festival.

Local Discourse Power Rankings

1. Don’t Zone Me Bro (Previously: 4). In a development that comes as a surprise to *checks notes* literally no one, including the plaintiffs, a judge has dismissed the legal challenge to Zoning for Housing filed by the Coalition for a Livable* Alexandria (*offer valid only if you pronounce the word “developer” like it tastes bad in your mouth). You know, getting the outcome you want in litigation is good, but what’s even better is when the ruling is issued immediately from the bench during the hearing. “Hey judge, do you want to take some time to think about it?” “Nah I’m good, case dismissed.” In the biz, this is what we call a benchslap. As the news spread last week, cries of “lol, lmao even” echoed throughout the land, while single-family homes were reportedly seen trying to escape across the border to Fairfax County. A part of us wants the plaintiffs to appeal, because continuing to watch them lose would be pretty fun, but we also recognize that this whole litigious hissyfit is a massive waste of taxpayer dollars—so it would probably be for the best if we put the whole thing to bed and moved on with our lives. After all, we need to move on to ZFH Phase 2 so we can legalize building Motel 6-sized additions to our houses! In conclusion, we optimistically say farewell and goodbye to… all of this, may it live on forever in our hearts. Alexa, play “One Sweet Day.”
2. Virginia is for Spanbergers (Previously: NR). November’s election wound up being one for ages for commonwealth Democrats. The top of the ticket swept to victory, and in the House of Delegates the Democratic majority added a whopping 13 seats to their existing majority for a total of 64 seats headed into January’s session. Here in Alexandria we saw a healthy 55% turnout rate (similar to our [narrows eyes] neighbors, in Arlington and Fairfax) with the governor-elect taking 83% of the local vote share. Our enthusiastic local support for the governor didn’t just stop at the ballot box, as Mayor Gaskins and Councilman Aguirre were also named to the transition committee. Now we can’t say for sure that their top priority to whisper in the governor’s ear is to send the Dillion Rule to a nice farm upstate, but we also can’t not say it. Constitutional pipe dreams aside, we have every reason to expect this will be a consequential and exciting session in Richmond for us, with the newly pumped-up Dem caucus likely to tackle key priorities for our region like support for disrupted federal employees, investments in childcare, K-12 school funding, and a renewed focus on economic development.
3. FederALXpiration of Appropriated Funds (Previously: 2). In a climax that can only be described as not with a bang, but a very, very, quiet whimper, the government shutdown ended last week when courageous Democrats in the Senate accepted a deal that gave them nothing in exchange for an on-time flight home. While the conclusion to the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown may have felt frustrating and unsatisfying relative to the professed purpose of all that pain and disruption (to save the health care of tens of millions of Americans), it was, closer here to home, a deep relief to have pain and disruption over with. In a presentation to City Council last week, City Manager Jim Parajon shared details from national study data that showed 40% of federal employees had started to rely on savings to meet daily expenses–and with 13,000 federal employees in Alexandria it’s easy to see how much our neighbors, and our city as a whole, were struggling. So we won’t be looking back with fondness on anything that happened during this imbecilic interregnum, not even at all those delicious free sandwiches that were given out by Pork Barrel and Sweet Fire Donna’s. It’s time to look forward at all the fresh new horrors we have to look forward to! Like, for instance, traffic now that everyone is back to work! Have you tried to drive on Route 1 between 5 and 6pm this last week?? Don’t even fucking bother!! You could run to nine Taco Bells across the DMV in the time it takes to drive through Old Town at rush hour right now.
4. FederALXodus (Previously: wait, we have two separate FederALX categories? Is that necessary??). More big news from the “putting the F in federal” department: the National Science Foundation, evicted from its HQ so that a different agency can repurpose its purpose-built headquarters for purposes unrelated to the original purpose, gets to stay in Alexandria, moving just a half mile away to the USPTO campus in Carlyle. We know it’s hard to get excited when your closest after-work happy hour option is now broccoli cheddar bread bowls at Panera, but it’s definitely not the worst way this could have ended (as we always say when we’re relieved to get assigned an Uber driver from DC or Virginia, the worst way this could have ended was Maryland). The city is celebrating this as a win because it gets to keep NSF and bring in HUD, bumping up our local employment numbers. Bureaucratic displacement isn’t exactly our preferred economic development strategy, but we’ll take whatever Ws we can get these days, we’re too stressed to be picky.
5. Is Our Children Learning (Previously: 2). The big news out of ACPS this week was the School Board filing a lawsuit against the since-dismissed administrator that had been working at ACPS and a school district in Georgia simultaneously. While some of the still emerging details of this story (including some first coming into public view as a result of this lawsuit) seem to indicate that some level of intentional deception and fraud may have played a role here, we hope this lawsuit is but the first of many accountability steps the School Board takes in the wake of this situation. The actions of this individual must be accounted for, without question—but so too must the policies and decisionmaking that led to this circumstance.

Alexandria’s Hottest Club Is… Groundbreakings

The Port City has been getting its money’s worth out of the phrase “shovel-ready project” recently, as seemingly every time we turn around someone has been sticking a very impractical gilt-covered ceremonial spade into a patch of dirt. No uncovered plot of ground is safe. If you stand still long enough near a construction site anywhere in Alexandria, there’s a non-zero chance the mayor will show up and tell you to get off your lazy ass and start digging.

All things considered, this feels pretty great! As we have amply covered in these pages pixels, the federal government shutdown has fallen extremely hard on our city and our region. Combine that with the general economic weirdness of the moment, and the short-term local budget outlook is… let’s say “tight,” in the same way that the lid on a jar of pickles is tight right before the whole thing explodes in your hands. It’s a welcome relief in the face of all that to still see a group of officials triumphantly penetrating the earth, initiating projects that are already funded and underway—keeping alive the dream of an improved and thriving city waiting for us on the other side, long after the symbolic first scoop of soil is tossed.

Even more encouragingly, it’s a diverse range of things for which we’re repeatedly bothering the ground! For instance, we’re kicking off rail projects:

We’re also breaking ground on more affordable housing:

And here we are getting out the shovels and commemorative hard hats for electric bus infrastructure: 

And we’re not only breaking grounds, we’re also cutting ribbons! Like on our brand new waterfront promenade at Pendleton Street: 

Progress looks good on you Alexandria [Editor’s note: it sure as hell looks better than a hard hat looks on Jesse] so let’s keep these pictures, and these projects, coming.

Overheard in ALX

From a letter to the Alexandria Times:

“Old Town’s famous city block is the unit by which to measure market competition because the grid is the geographic equivalent of a food hall with cells for vendors. … By taking a cake knife to these buildings, we fulfill market-based principles of healthy competition.”

Man… what?

One Awesome Thing in ALX

Last week saw the induction of the most recent class of Alexandria’s Living Legends, a program started in 2008 to honor and recognize remarkable members of our community. This year’s cohort of honorees is a typically diverse group that runs from world champion sprinter Noah Lyles, to Old Town business luminary Charlotte Hall, to community leader David Mercer, to Scholarship Fund of Alexandria founder Kitty Porterfield. These four, along with the eight others inducted, show the wide range of experiences and impact that the program seeks to acknowledge and appreciate.

And honestly, that’s what makes this program special—the range of lives lived. By tangibly demonstrating how Alexandria values the inspiration created by a world-class athlete equally alongside the impact of lives changed by a scholarship program, Living Legends sends a clear message that there’s no “right way” to influence and improve our community. It can be a challenge at times to decide exactly on the best way to make a difference. What this program says is: stop thinking like that. There is no best way. We are incredibly fortunate to live in a place with a wealth of ways to get involved and contribute to the well-being of those around us. And no matter if your passion is activism [Editor’s note: thematic callback, bitches!!] or community service or volunteering with kids or creating a beloved business—it all matters, in the end.

So with that in mind, while you’re waiting for us to be back in your inboxes in a couple of weeks, get out there and do something to try and make a difference. Go be a legend.

You can follow Becky @beckyhammer.bsky.social and Jesse @oconnell.bsky.social on Bluesky, or you can e-mail us anytime at alxtranewsletter@gmail.com.

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